Letters from Pemberley

I’ve finally finished reading Anne of Green Gables with Derek, so I have to go-ahead to post my thoughts on this series in response to my girlfriends’ questions.  I want to clarify that I’m addressing the books, not the movies (the second of which is particularly inaccurate to the series).  I feel like it’s necessary to talk a bit about each book, so this one is long…click below to read on, or come back Monday for pictures of the kids!

Background (when I first encountered the books)

I grew up on these, reading them multiple times as a teenager and every year as an adult.  They’re so much a part of who I am that I can’t imagine a young girl’s life without them!

Memories of the books

As pre-teens, my best friend Leann and I would play Anne-related imaginings for hours.  We baked, we sewed, we read “The Lady of Shalott”…and our moms never had to worry because they knew we were having good, wholesome fun.

Questions or concerns

I think Anna spelled out her concerns really clearly in her comments on one of my early children’s lit posts:

Anna says,  “I feel that LM Montgomery portrays Anne as the adventure-seeking, willful, fanciful teenager who does eventually settle down into married life (to the handsome Gilbert) with children. But even as a wife, she is still emotion-driven, adventure-seeking, and above all, glamorous to the pre-teen reading her story. Meanwhile Diana, who married early the chubby, reliable Fred, is portrayed as slightly boring. First of all, which of these two characters more closely represents what the Christian life and marriage should look like? I believe it is Diana, who plods along faithfully at her work. Second of all, who do we want our daughters to emulate? We do want them to be creative, social, and fun-loving, but I pray, pray, pray, that they will exhibit less pride and selfishness and more self-control over their emotions than Anne ever displays. I feel like those are the issues we will be talking about as we read these books. I love Anne. But I am becoming more and more convinced that it is literature like Anne that led me to an unrealistic view of marriage.”

Impressions upon rereading

I reread the series this year with Anna’s specific questions in mind, and I feel like we are talking about two different series of books!  Rewatching the movies, I think Anna has really hit at something about the modernist portrayal of the stories, but for this post’s purposes, I want to stick to discussing the books themselves.  I’ve always loved Anne’s spirit and imagination, but as I looked specifically at Anna’s concerns (pride, selfishness, emotion-driven behavior), I was struck by the exact opposite qualities in Anne over the course of the series.  To me, the most winsome thing about Anne is not her creative imagination, but rather her others-focused servant’s heart.  In every book, she takes the trouble to befriend lonely people, sacrifices her own desires to bless her friends and family, and attracts people to her by her beautiful spirit.  Somehow she manages to do it without a taint of Elsie Dinsmore’s unbelievable perfection, and I think the key might be that she’s honest about when doing the right thing is hard.  She makes mistakes, but we see the process of sanctification in her life over the course of each book and throughout the series. 

In Anne of Green Gables, we definitely see a faulty little girl, but even stern Marilla and Mrs. Lynde realize that Anne has never been taught what is right until she is adopted.  Her early misdeeds are often due to ignorance, not wilfullness.  Sometimes she is forgetful and heedless, but she sees that this is a fault in her nature and does manage to improve with time (though she’s always a daydreamer–not a personality fault per se).  True, she exhibits a horrid temper when she lashes out at Rachel Lynde’s and Gilberty Blythe’s comments about her red hair, but she admits after the fact that her behavior was wrong.  It struck me this time around that Anne grew up to age 11 only being told she was ugly and a nuisance and never once hearing a loving word.  To me, it’s realistic to human nature that a totally unloved child would be extremely sensitive about criticisms (unlike Elsie who is constantly told how beautiful she is and never feels a speck of pride about her beauty).  One Anne’s worst faults is definitely the fact that she holds a grudge against Gilbert for years–but it’s clear that she suffers from this unforgiveness.  It’s not portrayed as one of her winning attributes–Anne is clearly in the wrong.  And fortunately, Anne eventually does repent of her haughty attitude toward Gil!  Though Anne certainly can be proud and swayed by her emotions, these are not the character traits that Montgomery intends us to love in Anne.  Rather, I would argue that most readers come away from the novel loving Anne for her devotion to her friends, especially Diana, Matthew, and Miss Stacey.  Another important point is that while Anne has much to teach Marilla about having a sense of humor and appreciating beauty, Marilla is still a legitimate authority figure with insights into Anne’s shortcomings.  When Anne is in a dither about behaving appropriately for a tea at the parsonage, Marilla points out that Anne is focusing too much on herself and not on what would be pleasant for dear Mrs. Allen.  Anne immediately sees the wisdom of this comment and tries to readjust her focus.  To me, seeing a little girl accept sensible correction in a humble way is exactly the sort of example I want my children to read.

In Anne of Avonlea, Anne has sacrificed her academic aspirations to stay home with Marilla (who the doctor fears is going blind) and teach the local school so that she can contribute towards their financial needs.  Early in the novel, she and Gilbert talk about their life ambitions:

Gilbert had finally made up his mind that he was going to be a doctor.  “It’s a splended profession,” he said enthusiastically.  “A fellow has to fight something all through life…and I want to fight disease and pain and ignorance…which are all members one of another.  I want to do my share of honest, real work in the world, Anne…The folks who lived before me have done so much for me that I want to show my gratitude by doing something for the folks who will live after me…

“I’d like to add some beauty to life,” said Anne dreamily.  “I don’t exactly want to make people know more…but I’d love to make them have a pleasanter time because of me…to have some little joy or happy thought that would never have existed if I hadn’t been born.”

“I think you’re fulfilling that ambition every day,” said Gilbert admiringly.

And he was right.  Anne was one of the children of light by birthright.  After she had passed through a life with a smile or a word thrown across it like a gleam of sunshine the owner of that life saw it, for the time being at least, as hopeful and lovely and of good report.

In the rest of the novel, Anne continues to live out her 16-year-old ambitions; her adventures include befriending the gruff neighbor Mr. Harrison, mentoring the future poet Paul Irving (and helping his widowed father reunite with his first love, Miss Lavander), starting a club to help beautify Avonlea (in which she takes all the disagreeable tasks because she knows that no one else wants to), and helping Marilla adopt and raise a pair of orphan twins whose escapades make Anne’s early years seem serene.  When Marilla brings up the idea of college again after two years, Anne is emphatic that she never resented being home to help Marilla and that she will only go if she is not a financial burden on the family and if the widowed Mrs. Lynde moves in to help Marilla with the house and the twins.  As she shares with Mr. Harrison, “I don’t care so much for things like [college honors] as I did two years ago.  What I want to get out of my college course is some knowledge of the best way of living life and doing the most and best by it.  I want to learn to understand and help other people and myself.”  Diana becomes engaged to Fred near the end, but her parents insist they wait until 21 to be married.  This does surprise Anne, though not the reader, and she’s clearly not ready for romance herself–with Gilbert or anyone else–but I’d be hard pressed to find examples of Anne’s willfullness, selfishness, or emotionally-driven behavior in the whole book.

In Anne of the Island, Anne goes to college and befriends Phillippa, who is unquestioningly smarter and prettier than Anne (who never resents it).  Anne and her other poor girlfriends work hard at school, keeping socialization a second priority.  Their big adventure is renting a house together with Stella’s Aunt Jimsie to watch over them.  Anne takes on extra jobs whenever she can, but she thinks she’ll have to drop out of school and teach a few years to finish up until Diana’s Aunt Josephine leaves her money in her will that allows Anne to finish without burdening Marilla financially.  Again, Anne’s personal desires take second place to caring for her family.  She’s temporarily swept up in a passionate romance with Roy Gardener, who seems to have all the attributes of her ideal hero, but fortunately, she realizes in time that, as she tells Phil, “I want someone who belongs in my life.  [Roy] doesn’t.  I was swept off my feet at first by his good looks and knack of paying romantic compliments; and later on I thought I must be in love because he was my dark-eyed ideal.”  Anne realizes that her adolescent ideals don’t match what she really wants in a mate–someone to laugh with and be herself with.   Suddenly Diana’s wedding to Fred makes sense.  Phil “throws herself away” in the world’s eyes to marry the homely but holy Jonas, and Anne and Gilbert end the book engaged, realizing they’ll have to wait until Gilbert’s done with Med School to marry.  Even though this book has the most “romantic” content, the lessons learned are so important that I’ll be letting my girls read it before they get to “dating age” themselves.  Anne and Phil both realize what Diana already figured out–you want to marry the Godly man who just happens to be your best friend.

Anne of Windy Poplars covers the three years of Anne and Gilbert’s engagement, in which he is studying to be a doctor and Anne is teaching in Kingsport.  Her adventures include making peace with the difficult Pringle clan (to whom she is patient and kind despite their awful behavior), visiting and cheering up various lonely old people, bringing anti-social fellow teacher Katherine Brooke out of her shell by inviting her to Green Gables for Christmas, helping an orphan student earn his way though high school so that he can go to college, and mentoring Little Elizabeth, the neglected little girl next door.  Her landlords’ housekeeper, Rebecca Dew, is one of my favorite Montgomery creations, a hilariously good-hearted soul with wonderful expressions.  Again, throughout this book, Anne is willing to work because she needs to (I’d say it’s Anne here who is plodding along faithfully at her work), and she does it to the best of her ability, but she makes it clear that she can’t wait to marry Gilbert and settle down.

Anne’s House of Dreams finds Anne and Gilbert finally married in their “house of dreams” they’ve been looking forward to for the past several years.  The Blythes don’t take a honeymoon at all because they don’t have the money.  Not glamorous!  Gilbert has to start work with his demanding medical practice right away.  As Anne says, “Gilbert is so busy.  He’s hardly ever home except for a few hours in the wee sma’s.  He’s really working himself to death.  So many of the over-harbour people send for him now.”  (I know from experience, only seeing your hardworking husband in the middle of the night is the opposite of glamorous!)  Rather than sit home and mope, however, Anne quickly follows her pattern of looking out for the lonely when she befriends Captain Jim and Leslie Moore.  Anne says to Leslie, “Oh, I once dreamed of a palace, too.  I suppose all girls do.  And then we settle down contentedly in eight-room houses that seem to fulfil all the desires of our hearts–because our prince is there.”  (Again, while I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment, I wouldn’t consider it glamorous.)  Their marriage is not easy–especially when their first child, Joyce, dies–and the sacrifices they have to make in their long engagement and in the early years of their marriage are very realistic to what my own marriage has been like.  Anne and Gilbert have to wait a lot longer and get more of their growing-up done before marriage than couples who marry earlier than their mid-20s, so their situation is not going to be realistic to all readers.  I’m okay with that.

Anne of Ingleside, Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside really do shift in focus to Anne’s children, but I’ll mention that the Blythe kids always know what is expected of them from their parents and respect them completely.  Though Anne isn’t the perfect mother, she has a lot of strengths that I’d do well to emulate, especially when it comes to treasuring the imaginations of my children.

I hope I’ve addressed Anna’s concerns throughout the series.  Beyond that, I want to address the fact that Anne goes to college and has a (shortlived) career.  In my adolescence, homeschoolers loved and promoted Anne, but in a recent homeschool catalog I received, Anne was conspicuously absent; featured instead were the complete Elsie Dinsmore series and books arguing what a waste a college education is.  It’s a disservice to young women to infer that early marriage and skipping college are the only ways in which you can be a truly Godly young woman, and I want to avoid that extreme as much as the extreme worldly view that a woman’s primary value is in working in some prestigious job with a ton of letters after her name.  In the Anne books, Anne has to take a middle path.  She is an orphan adopted by an elderly pair, and when the Cuthbert’s life savings are lost in a bank failure and Matthew dies of a heart attack, she and Marilla are left with only the property that they don’t personally have the strength to farm.  Anne could sit around bemoaning the fact that the men of Avonlea are ignoring the Biblical mandate to care for widows and orphans, but like in many contemporary situations, that won’t actually do any good.  So instead she uses her God-given talents to pay her own way through school and acquire the skills to have a job that supports her and avoids burdening Marilla so that she doesn’t have to sell her family home.  (Note that Montgomery doesn’t condemn early marriage, which was the norm in her day; Diana’s father can afford for her to live at home without a career until she marries Fred at age 21, and their marriage is always portrayed as a happy and successful one.)  The Blythes’ relatively late marriage at age 25 is not an act of selfishness or a desire for adventure before settling down to hum-drum married life–Gilbert and Anne live in pre-welfare state Canada; in their day, a couple had to be ready potentially to financially support a child (without taxpayer help!) nine months after their wedding, so if a man had to work his way through school as Gilbert does, he had to wait to get married.  While Anne waits to be a stay-at-home housewife, she uses her gifts to bless and mentor her students and beautify the lives of the lonely people who cross her path–perfect preparation for a lifetime of similar behavior when she’s not a “career woman.”  The values portrayed in Anne’s and Gilbert’s romance and marriage may be radical in some homeschooling circles, but I think that real life for most of us is going to correspond more closely to Anne’s experience than Elsie’s privileged upbringing on a slave plantation!  

To get back to Anna’s thoughtful questions, above, is it Anne or Diana who more closely represents what the Christian life and marriage should look like?  I personally had a relatively early marriage, more like Diana’s.  As I don’t have a poetical bone in my body and can imitate better than create, I’ve always found a kinship with the faithful Diana, whose life ambition, like mine, was always to be a good stay-at-home wife and mother (which never sounded “boring” to me).  I know that this is the way that God has called me to glorify Him daily.  But I also want to praise my girlfriends who, like Anne of the middle books, are in a stage where they’re not married and are glorifying God in their full-time jobs (which most would assure you are not exactly glamorous!).  I would be overjoyed to see my daughters acting with such grace during the single season of their lives. I think there’s a real danger in saying that the best model for what Christian life and marriage should look like is the experience of those of us who met the right guy early and married young, because even among my girlfriends who actively desire to get married and have children, many are still waiting longer than Anne (into their late 20s or 30s) for that to happen!  (What is wrong with young Christian men these days?!)  God has an individual calling for each woman, and what’s more important than the timing (the only essential difference between Anne and Diana’s marriages to their boys-next-door) is joyfully accepting what God has called you to at each life stage (which both Anne and Diana do).  I pretty much followed my own mom’s and grandma’s timetable of early marriage and children, but I certainly don’t want my girls to feel like failures if  they aren’t married with at least three kids by 30!

Anna also asks, who do we want our daughters to emulate?  What’s so great about the Montgomery books as I think about heroines for our daughters to emulate is that there are Godly role models for every potential stage of a woman’s life–beautiful girlhood, content motherhood, useful working years, or sanctified “spinsterhood” (a term that always makes me smile in the context of these books).  While the focus of the story is obviously on Anne and her life choices, she doesn’t have one set pattern for her daughters, and she never criticizes her friends that choose differently (unless they’re acting out of selfish, immature motives, like Ruby Gillis, who flirts her way through her teens and finds as she faces early death that her life has been meaningless).  Nan and Di further their education and work for the war effort; Rilla learns to be an unselfish homemaker and ends the entire series engaged to be married without attending college. 

Does this work accurately reflect God’s creation?

I don’t have a long set of specific aspirations for my daughters, other than hoping that all of my children will grow up loving the Lord and spend at least one year on the mission field after completing high school.  I hope that whatever God has for them in womanhood, they’ll exhibit Proverbs 31 attributes.  I feel confident that the most loveable (or even glamorous) traits of Anne and her friends (Diana included!) are those that I want imitated in my daugthers–compassion, diligence, and contentment in where God has placed them.  Anne grows into Godly womanhood by making mistakes along the way, and I think girls can learn more from her than from a perfect heroine.  I have no moral qualms about the message that this series sends to young girls.

Is this a work of literary and artistic excellence?

Lucy Maud Montgomery is a bit like Dickens, I think–when she is on (as in the Anne books and Jane of Lantern Hill), she is one of the best.  Her dialogue is spot-on, the characters of Anne’s world are totally real and believeable, and her prose is beautiful.  She can get me to laugh uproariously over incidents I’ve read many times before.  (Like Dickens, her second rate work is not as good as her best (especially regarding chracter development), but it’s still better than most of her contemporaries.)  That’s why I reread the Anne series every year!

Let’s open this up to discussion–I know most of my girlfriends have read the Anne books!  How did the series affect your view of love, career, and marriage?  Do any of you feel that the series gave you unrealistic expectations for marriage?  I’d be interested to hear what those expectations were.